The Purge
by Caliboy
Summary: It all started with a train ride that led to the awakening of great and terrible powers, between two worlds at war. Some things are just destined to happen. Making my own version of the story. LightxHope Will up rating later.


**Hey everyone, so i actually just figured out how to really edit a story on this site; mostly because i never bothered looking before, and i only had one other story :P Anywhooo... this goes out to the fans of Final Fantasy XIII, a game which i am totally addicted to and can't get enough of, even though i keep failing the final missions and get frustrated at my XBOX :( This is now my second story posted on and this was actually a story i had to submit for my short story unit in my English class, so i had to make things a bit simpler, you'll see. But in later chapters im going back to the general knowledge of the game so keep up :P**

**I really hope you all enjoy the first chapter, so here we go:**

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Had he never gotten on the train, never gone to the Festival of Dreams in Bodhum, and never met Claire, everything would have remained completely normal. However, that wasn't the case; they were in for the adventure of a lifetime, and there wasn't much time left for the two of them.

Ever since he had boarded the train to be "purged," Hope Estheim regretted the action. There was no escape now. He was headed from his home in the floating shell of Cocoon, to the world below them, Pulse; the planet that everyone called "hell."

Pulse was said to be the home of unfathomable beasts and savage tribes of warriors. For Hope, a sheltered teenager from the city, the thought of such a world was terrifying.

The young, silver-haired boy grew up in Palumpolum with his mother, Nora, and his father, Bartholomew. He had always been protected by his parents and had never had to fight, so Hope wouldn't stand a chance against the beasts of Pulse.

Nora and Hope had come to the seaside city of Bodhum for the annual Festival of Dreams, leaving Bartholomew home because of his work. On the night of the festival's fireworks display, a Pulsian beast, a Fal'cie named Anima, was found in the Vestige ship on the outskirts of the city. The ship had been a dormant artifact for centuries.

The Sanctum, Cocoon's government and armed forces, ordered The Purge to get rid of everyone in Bodhum, in fear of anyone having come in contact with the "tainted" life form.

The people of Cocoon hated Pulse, but above all they feared the power of the many ferocious beasts dwelling on the larger planet only a few hundred kilometers away. The Purge was to make the rest of Cocoon safe by eliminating a possible threat from Pulse, but thousands of people were being sent to their deaths anyways.

Hope was fidgeting furiously when he heard someone beside him attempt to speak to him. "Sorry?" he asked. "I didn't catch that."

Hope turned to see the person who had spoken. He found himself looking at a beautiful girl, who seemed about twenty-one years of age. She had faded pink, glossy hair, cut just below her shoulder, and draped over one shoulder. The fringe of her hair partially covered her stunning emerald eyes; the same emerald eyes that belonged to Hope himself. The girl wore the same white, hooded robes that everyone else on the train was wearing.

She started to speak again. "I can tell you don't want to be here," the girl stated. "I don't want to be here either. The only reason I even boarded this train was so I could save my younger sister, Serah."

Hope looked around, puzzled. "Is she on this train too?" he politely questioned. "And who are you?"

The girl sighed and eventually spoke. "As a child, my name was Claire," she explained. "After my parents were killed, I decided I needed to be cold and ruthless to become stronger as a person and get anywhere in life; so I joined the Guardian Corps in Bodhum and assumed the name of Lightning." She took a deep breath and looked at Hope, as he waited for his answer about Serah. Lightning gathered her thoughts for a moment, knowing what Hope was waiting for, before speaking once again. "Serah was branded by the Fal'cie, Anima, two days ago. Yesterday, she was at my house and tried to tell me that she had been forced to become Anima's slave, but I didn't take it very well. For the past four years I have been hunting and destroying things from Pulse, so I couldn't handle the thought of my sister now belonging to one of the most powerful enemies of our world. I freaked out at her and told her it was my duty as a soldier to take care of any Pulsian threat, even if she _**was**_ my sister," Lightning took a shaky breath and then continued. "She ran off and later was kidnapped and taken to Pulse by Anima. I volunteered to get on this train so I could go save her from that monster and apologize to her for everything."

Hope caught a glimpse of a single tear sliding down Lightning's pale cheek before she swiftly brushed it away. He made up his mind and his soft, fragile composure was suddenly replaced with that of a determined young warrior. "I want to come with you and help you rescue Serah," he said. "You shouldn't have to go through this alone, you don't deserve that."

Lightning looked at the teenager questioningly, then asked, "Are you sure you want to do this? Pulse _**is**_hell."

"Of course I'm sure!" Hope quickly replied. "No one deserves to be forced to do something against their own will; and I'm quite sure Serah didn't volunteer to be Anima's slave. We will take down Anima, and bring Serah back home!" he finished triumphantly.

Lightning smirked at the boy's newly found drive. "Well if you're sure, hold on. We're taking control of this train. Stay here!" she commanded.

One of the guards on the train sauntered past Lightning and Hope, his gun held lazily by his side. The guard was headed towards the front of the train, not paying any attention to any of the Purge victims. In the next car was the engine room where Hope and Lightning were headed.

Seizing her chance, Lightning stood up and ripped off her snowy robes, revealing the uniform of a Guardian Corps commander, one of the most prestigious ranks in the entire army, second only to the general. She wore a sleeveless, black, turtle-necked shirt under a white leather vest with the glowing symbol of the Guardian Corps on a steel shoulder guard. She also sported a pair of spandex shorts that stopped about midway down her toned thighs and high, combat-style boots stopping at her knees.

Lightning reached behind her and pulled out what looked like a large handgun with a razor edge on the top, from a sheath just below her back. With a flick of her wrist, the weapon transformed from a gun, into a very sturdy, crimson sword.

She lunged at the guard and plunged her sword through his spine, killing the soldier instantly. Lightning heard a small "whoosh" and turned to see the door at the opposite end of the car opening. Another guard stepped into the car before the door softly slid shut behind him. Lightning ran towards her end of the car, and pushed a button on her vest. She started to glow violet as her body was engulfed in a gravity field, a special Corps tool, forming to her exact shape and size. She ran to the door and jumped off of it, soaring towards the guard fifty feet away at breakneck speed. Lightning shifted her gunblade back to its handgun form and expertly took one swift shot, impaling the guard square in the chest. He staggered for a moment with a loud grunt from the impact of the bullet, and then Lightning smashed him into the wall with her boots, killing the elite trooper. She disabled the gravity field around her, and walked over to Hope.

"Let's get to the engine room," she suggested. "We need to take out the captain. Thankfully we are in the car closest to the engine room."

Hope snapped out of his state of fear and awe. "Right," he agreed and stood up, following Lightning to the end of the car. Suddenly, someone screamed, "Look, that thing is flying straight towards the tracks! It's a wyvern from Pulse!" At the planet's name being spoken, the people in the car began to panic. They were screaming and running around the car in a frenzy.

Hope and Lightning looked out the window and saw the gigantic beast approaching the train tracks about a kilometer ahead of them. The dragon-like creature opened its bloody fangs and spewed molten flame on the train tracks, instantly melting the metal away and forming a large gap in the suspended railway between the planets.

Hope panicked. "We have to stop this train before we are all killed!" he said, but it was too late. The train was already too close to the gap. The passengers screamed in terror as the train shuddered and jerked on what remained of the molten tracks, before it fell through the gap and began to drop.

The train plummeted towards Pulse, the world still kilometers below them. No one would survive; they all knew that. Everyone was starting to jump out of the train to meet their imminent doom. Hope looked to Lightning, hoping she had some sort of plan that could keep them from being killed.

"Come on, Hope," Lightning said, "We need to jump too, I cant protect you from in here. My gravity field will keep us safe."

Hope sighed in relief, thankful that Lightning had the exact tool that they needed to get out of this ordeal alive.

"Alright, let's go then," he agreed and followed Lightning to one of the broken windows where they would make their escape. They grabbed each other's hands, took a deep breath, and jumped.

The two companions were stuck in freefall for a minute or two, focusing on moving away from the train for when they landed. Lightning looked towards the ground and noticed a temple surrounded by a lush forest.

"Hope," she shouted, because the wind beating on their ears made it hard to hear anything else, "we will be safe if we land over there," she pointed to the forest surrounding the temple. Hope nodded and they altered their direction slightly to head to the temple.

As they came closer to the surface, Lightning pulled Hope in close to her and pressed the button on her vest. The gravity field glowed and engulfed the two of them, slowing their decent for a moment before disappearing. She pressed the button again and the field flickered once more, before Hope heard a faint "pop" and the field disappeared once again. The mechanism implanted in Lightning's vest had shorted out and exploded. They were doomed.

Hope looked at the pained and fearful expression on Lightning's face before clinging tight to her, refusing to let her go for anything. There was a flash of light and spots danced across Hope's vision. Suddenly, all he could hear was Lightning's now faint voice saying, "Serah, I'm so sorry."

Hope squeezed his eyes shut and began to speak. "Don't say that!" he shouted. "You tried your best. If we die because we tried to save your sister and Cocoon and do the right thing, then we should be proud," he paused for a moment before he looked her in the eyes. "But if this is how I'm going to die, then I am glad to have met you and to have you by my side, Claire."

Lightning smiled and pulled the boy even closer into their embrace as they fell to the planet. A flash from the sun came again right before they plummeted through the forest, and everything went black.

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**So there we go, that's the first chapter of The Purge. I'm going to try and actually write this story and not neglect it like SoB, which i am most likely going to discontinue... :( i had some good laughs with it, but had no idea where i wanted to go with it.**

**Anyways, i hope you all liked this so far. Any and all reviews/comments will be appreciated, but flames will be used to curse your future works, so forget about it! See y'all next time :)  
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